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Friday, 31 October 2008

Honey Buns

I am so glad I am now back to my baking routine.

The first recipe I picked up was none other than a bread recipe from a cookbook I bought recently.

It has been quite a long while since I last made any plain, soft buns. While the cookbook provides very clear instructions, with step-by-step photos on how to make the bread by hand, I relied on my bread machine to do the kneading. I am not sure whether I have made any mistake when measuring the ingredients, the dough was rather sticky when I removed it from the bread machine. It took me a few seconds to decide whether I should give it a few extra kneading by hand. I decided against it as I was in no mood to workout my biceps ;')

I left the dough to proof in the mixing bowl and hope that it would be easier to work with after the first rise. The dough was still a little sticky after 1.5hrs of proofing. Knowing that it would be difficult to handle a sticky dough, I dusted my table and my hands generously with flour before shaping them into buns. My younger boy came over and we had fun rolling the rounds on the table. Like me, he likes to play with the dough ;)

I usually prefer not to brush the finished dough with egg wash before baking, as I really don't like the final glossy look. Since this recipe calls for brushing with milk, I though I should give it a try. According to the recipe, the buns have to be baked at 220 degC. However, my oven temperature stabilised at only 200 degC. As a result, the baking time was about 15mins-20mins, slightly longer than the stated time of 13-15mins. I left the bread to bake in the oven and went off to do my chores. I have almost forgotten about it, fortunately, the sweet scent of honey and the heavenly aroma from freshly baked bread prompted me to check on it. By then, it was a little too late, the top surface was overly browned. I tried to rescue the bread by tenting it with a foil and left it to bake for another 5mins.

Other than the almost burnt top, the bread is a winner. The crumb was very soft and fluffy. These buns have got texture that almost resembles those super soft kaya buns we had a week ago at this YY Kafei Dian (YY Coffee Shop).

My kids couldn't wait to taste it and I had to keep telling them to wait for it too cool off, on top of that, they need to give me another 10mins to take a photo of it ;) The buns tasted really good, I will certainly make these again and again.

Place all ingredients except the butter in the pan of the bread machine (according to the sequence as stated in the instruction manual of your bread machine). Select the Dough function of the bread machine and press start. After about 8mins of kneading (the ingredients should form a smooth dough by now, otherwise add in 1 tablespoon of bread flour if the mixture seems very wet), add in the 30g of butter. Let the machine continue to knead the dough. After the kneading cycle has stopped (20mins), Stop and Restart the machine. Continue to let the machine knead for another 10mins.

Stop the machine and remove dough from the bread pan. Shape the dough into a smooth round and place in a lightly greased mixing bowl , cover bowl with cling wrap and let it rise till double in volume for about 60 ~ 90 mins.

Remove dough and give a few light kneading on a lightly floured work surface. Press out the trapped air as your knead. Divide into 9 equal portions and shape them into rounds. Cover with cling wrap, let the doughs rest for 10mins.

Flatten each dough into a round disc and press out the trapped air. Shape and roll into a smooth round ball.

Place doughs seams side down on a 20cm by 20cm square baking tray (lightly greased with oil or butter or line it with parchment paper). Loosely cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let doughs proof for 45 ~ 60 mins or until double in size.

When ready to bake, brush the surface of the dough with milk. Bake at preheated oven at 200 degC for about 15 ~ 20 mins until the bread is golden brown all over. Cover the surface with a sheet of aluminum foil if the surface browns too quickly. Remove from oven, unmold immediately and let cool on wire rack.

Hi HHB, when my 19th mth boy saw the pix, he shouted "breadddddd", and i promised to make it for him one of these days. Unfortunately, i've not had any experience with bread and i'm not very confident about it. Any tips for first timer?

Hi Quinn, yes, my kids exams are finally over! We will be able to do alot of baking together during the coming school holidays :)

Quizzine, your boy is so cute! Luckily he didn't say 'mountains' ;pFor a start, do read up on bread making...it is a must, as it is not as easy as making muffins. Read up the details from sites such as baking911.com. You can also borrow books from the library. After that, you just need to get bread flour, plus the other ingredients which I think you would already have for making cakes, and you are ready to go.

Thanks Missy :)

hi Grace, we had it plain when it was fresh out of the oven...on the next day, my kids had it with jam. For my version, I toasted the bun lightly in the oven, then slap on generously with kaya & butter. It was very good!

Hi Anonymous, sorry for not being clear...it means, you use 1 egg and top it up with enough milk to make it to 200g...ie 1 egg + milk = 200g. I used HL fresh milk.

Hi HHB, I've been a follower of your blog for quite some time now, and have read almost every single one of your posts. They're quite lovely and inspiring, so much that I actually go through all the conversions from grams to cups.

I noticed that all your photos have really really nice blue/purple/white background. Is this just your wall? Or have you manipulated the photo using a program? I would really love to know, since I find that the lighting over here where I live is terrible. Or maybe it's just my photography skills. =P I know that you use Picnik, but does your secret lie somewhere else?

I should be studying for exams but could not resist a peek at your blog to see what culinary creations you've been working on. Your buns look so yummy; i definitely want to try making these! Do these taste just like the sweet chinese buns?

beautiful honey buns! imagine eating this with honey dribbled on the bun...waaa pure pleasure man! oh anyway erm. i did the everyday bread again and...i failed again. sobz. i post it up on my blog already and hope you can have a look and see if i made any mistakes? =(

Hi asdfjkl;Thanks for reading my posts :)Yes, the background is my wall. It's light blue, but somehow depending on the lighting (I rely soley on natural sunlight), sometimes it turn out white (when it is very bright) and certain times it is a dull blue (when it is gloomy). Yes, I use Picnik to adjust the brightness and contrast. It is possible to change the background using Photoshop, but I am too lazy to learn how to use that. For a few recent photos, I have used a blue vanguard sheet to cover the wall, so the background was a nice bright blue. I think there are quite a number of sites and bloggers who have shared their experiences in taking food photos, you can do a google and I am sure you can get lots of tips from there. Sorry, I can't really comment too much on photography, as I only know how to point and shoot ;p

Hi Jen, I am using Instant Yeast from the brand 'Bake King'.

Hi Kang, this bread can be made by hand. However, this is the first time I have tried this recipe, as such I am not able to write up a post on it. If you are already familiar with bread making, you can adopt the usual method of mixing all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, make a well in the centre, and add in the wet ingredients. Mix to form a dough and transfer to a work surface to knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic and no longer sticks to your hands (which will usually take about 15-30mins of kneading by hand). Hope this helps.

Hi Jo, I am sorry, I am not sure which type of sweet chinese buns you are referring to? This bread tasted quite similar to plain soft buns or dinner rolls.

Hi Katherine, I read your post. I wanted to leave a comment on your post, but there is no comment link? I am not sure what happened, but it seems like the dough was too dry? Did you get the measurement correct? Poor girl, you kneaded it for more than 1 hr, I would have given up by 30mins! I have not tried making the Everyday bread by hand, so I am not sure whether the dough is suppose to be dry. However, when the dough is well kneaded, the dough should look very smooth (see my dough photo under the post Garlic Buns). By the way, did you cover your dough when it was proofing and after shaping? If the dough is not covered, the crust will turn hard. I'm so sorry that the recipe didnt work for you. It's quite strange, sometimes, you simply don't have luck with a certain recipe...I tried making the French yoghurt cake for several times...each time without fail, I get kueh instead of cake! I hope you won't be discouraged by my recipe, I'm sure you can find other recipes that work for you. Happy Baking!

Beautiful buns you have here, I tried your green tea and chocolate marble bread over the weekend, I was on cloud nine when I successfully braided the bread, yes even before I knew the end result, I was that happy. Never knew that you could experienced such joy from baking. Thank you so much. Luckily the texture of my bread was excellent otherwise my happiness would have been shortlived. I did not have a squarish loft like yours cos I do not have a pullman tin, must add that to my must buy list, baking as a hobby is certainly expensive.Both the recipes are from different cookbook, can I check with you which book gives clearer instruction esp for someone whose Chinese is not up to par.Once again thanks for your inspiration.

wow, this bread looks really soft. i would like to try it but my bread machine does not allow the user to control the timing ie stop the kneading then restart again. Once i start the Dough function, i must wait for the whole cycle (which takes 1.5 hrs) to finish. do u think this will affect the dough?

Hi EK, I'm happy to hear that you had great success with your bread :DThe other book (Taiwan) comes with a CD, and has got 100 recipes. Whereas this one (written by Japanaes) has only 20 recipes, although each recipe comes with step-by-step photos. The bread recipes in this cookbook is much simplier, nothing fancy but those are the breads that I like. You may want to check out the bookstore to see whether which book you prefer.

Hi Elinluv, do try this, I am sure you will like it :)

Hi Eunice, thanks for dropping by. You make great cupcakes!

Hi Octopusmum, for my bread machine, I force it to stop by pressing on to the stop button for 3 seconds, not sure whether you can do the same to your bread machine? If not, you can either choose to let the machine to go thru the full cycle, although I think the finished buns may not be that soft (as this is not a bread machine recipe), Or, you can knead the dough by hand.

Hi HHB,Your honey bread looks so good and tasty. Actually, I have tried some recepies from your blog and I always get good resutl due to your clear and step by step explaination. Surely, I will try this recipe this weekend.Have you every tried making dumpling? I asked this question but have not found the reply yet or maybe it's somewhere on your blog I have not found out yet.

thanks for the encouragement! think my arm is more firmer after 1 hour of kneading now.i think i wanna try that recipe again. haha this time round i must must must add in more milk coz there was a theory saying that different areas has got different humid and vapour area... pray hard this theory is right man. i assume my area is...dry? haha

anyway yea i use tag box rather than comments coz i dunno the html to allow comments as i am using skins. still thanks alot! =)

Hi Anonymous, yes, I have replied your comment which you left in another post. I have not tried making dumplings. I am sure other bloggers would have shared their dumpling recipes, hope you can find something you like.

Hi SB, yes I weight the honey with a scale to 50g. Do note that honey is heavier than water, so 50g is much less than 50ml.

Hi Katherine, I really admire your never give up attitude! Yes, flour is affected by humidity. You can always adjust the liquid/flour...if the dough is too dry upon mixing, add in a little more liquid, if it is too wet, add one tbs of flour at a time. Do note that it is easier to add flour to a wet dough than to add liquid to a dry dough.

I love your bread. It looks delicious... I would love to do your recipe... but i don´t have bread machine... will be like yours if I do the recipe in the oven?congratulations for your the blog. It´s great.

Hi Alessandra, thanks for dropping by :) I am sorry I'm not sure whether you can use all purpose for this recipe. Would you be able to get strong flour or high gluten flour? They are similar to bread flour.

Hi Rajee, I'm sorry I do not have the measurement in cups, you may check this site (http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cookingconversions.asp?Action=find) for the conversion of the ingredients. Hope this helps :)

My daughter told me about your website, we love to try new recipes. I came across your honey buns, the photos and your description on the smell reminded me of the yellow bread I used to buy from the old neighbourhood bakery when I was a young girl. It brought back good and nice memory. I will certainly try to bake some.

Hi, I wanted to start experimenting with bread baking, and the very first recipe I tried was this! Did mine by hand cause I don't own a breadmaker. Was rather afraid of a disaster, but the bun turned out really great after doing my homework on the bread baking links on your blog. (: Thanks for sharing, your blog's one of my favourites!

These buns are soooo good! I just made them, and finished tucking in to one. Mmmmmm! Thanks so much for this recipe. *big thumbs up* I'd like to post the account on my new blog, and give you credit... if you don't mind, that is. =]

I have a question. When dust the table with flour... the dough seems to eat up the flour. And it become sticky (stick to the table and hand)after a minute of kneaing. Do U have to always dust the table? And what flour do we use to dust the table? Thanks

Hi Monsterbaby, yes the dough will 'eat up' the flour as you knead. Refrain from dusting the flour as you knead. Just continue to knead (for about 20-30mins) and the dough will become smooth and non-sticky. You can use a dough scrapper to scrap up the sticky dough as you knead, it will be easier. You can use bread flour to dust the dough.

The first time... after dusting the flour... it is so easy to knead. It dun stick to the hand. But after a few min of knead... it start to stick. So I keep dusting bread flour. and the finally product is that it is so hard.

And my second time of the day, I refine dusting the flour. However it is still so sticky even after I knead for 1 hour.

Hi Monsterbaby, dusting with too much flour will cause the bread to turn hard. I am not sure what went wrong, could it be due to the measurement of the ingredients? Sorry I am no expert in baking as such I can't really tell what was the problem you faced.

Thanks for the advice. I need another little advice from u. I am thinking of getting a machine to knead the bread dough. Which is better? A handheld mixer that has a dough hook or a bread machine. A mixer can double up for whipping up cream for cakes and cake mixture which a bread machine can't. But I wonder if the mixer a good machine for kneading bread dough (compare to a mixer)?

A handheld mixer even with a dough hook will not be suitable for kneading the dough. You will need a standing mixer, more powerful ;)

Unless you are thinking of using the bread machine to bake whole loaves, then you can consider getting it. But I find that bread machine tends to produce breads with a harder crust, so I usually use it only for kneading, and bake the bread using my normal oven. Besides that, you still need to bake it in the normal oven if you intend to make breads in different shapes, like small buns, etc. Unless you are going to make bread very regularly, I would think kneading by hand is still the best.

Hi Happy Homebaker, is me again. I have bought a bread machine. And my machine needs 30 min of warming up and then it start the mixing and kneading for about 15 -20mins.. then it stop and knead 1-2 times near the end of the 2 hrs cycle (the 2 hours does not include proofing and baking jus the making of dough). I wish to follow ur method of forcing the machine to stop. When Should I stop it? After it stop kneading? or after the 2 hours cycle? When I stop the mchine and restart... the dough will remain in the machine for 30 min before machine start kneading it again. Will it affect the dough? Thanks

Hi monsterbaby, how do you find the bread made with your bread machine? If the texture is soft, then you don't have to follow my method of extending the kneading time.

My bread machine works slightly different from yours. Once I add in the ingredients and press the start button (for Dough function) it will start the mixing and kneading immediately.

I believe the 2 hrs cycle in your breadmachine include the proofing time. The kneading at the end of the cycle is probably for 'knocking down' of the dough to release the air. Maybe you can double check the instruction manual?

So if you really want to stop the machine, you should stop it after the initial 15-20mins kneading. However, it is not advisable to restart the machine again as I don't think it is a good idea to let the dough sit for 30mins as it will start proofing after the kneading has stopped.

Hi, want to try your honey buns recipe. Am using a Bluesky BM,and after kneading the dough in the Bluesky for 30 minutes, do I take the dough out and proof it at room temperature for 60-90 mins. Or can I leave it to proof in BM?

Hi Shawn, I usually remove the dough from the BM and leave it to proof at room temperature. You can leave the dough to proof in the BM, but do take note that the DOUGH function consists of two parts...20mins of kneading, and the remaining 1hr 10mins is for proofing. So if you let the machine knead for 20mins, then stop and re-start and let it run for another 10mins, there will be another 10mins of kneading until it stops and goes on to proofing stage. So your dough will be kneaded for 40mins. As such, I suggest that if you want to proof the dough in the BM, just let it do the kneading for 20mins, don't stop and re-start.

Btw, I have readers telling me that their new BM doesnt allow them to stop and restart, (mine is a older model), and I will leave the lid open after the first 1 to 2 mins of mixing (I dont want flour to fly all over my counter) so that the machine will not be over-heated.

I just tried to bake this over the weekend and because I do not own a bread machine, I just threw everything together and mixed them by hand. After 45 min of kneading, my dough broke after I tried to do the window pane test. =( The resulting bread was mad dense and heavy! =((

May I know if you have any idea how I can make the bread manually? I also find that I prefer to have a stronger honey taste. Can I substitute the part of the milk for more honey so that the bread is sweeter?

Hi Bakingal, to knead by hand, place flour, salt, yeast in a mixing bowl, mix well. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and milk mixture and the honey. Mix to form a rough dough. Transfer to a work surface and knead till the dough becomes smooth. Then add in the butter and continue to knead until the dough becomes smooth, elastic and doesn't stick to the work surface and your hands. Usually it will take about 30mins of continuous kneading. You can look up youtube for demo clips on how to go about kneading the dough. I won't advise that you modify the recipe to substitute honey with the milk, it may affect the texture of the bread. It is best to stick to the recipe. If you prefer stronger honey taste, maybe you can look up other recipes that uses more honey, that will be a safer bet.

Hi Happy homebaker, I enjoyed looking at your food pics, they are delicious to eat!I like to make the buns, but with liquid measurements in grams, like milk or honey. What are they in fl oz, ml, or tsp? I want to measure correctly. I have a jug for measuring liquid. Also does it work wonderfully well using hand kneading?Thanks, hope I haven't trouble you too much. Rose

Unfortunately, I do not have the measurements in ml or tablespoons. However, after checking this website (http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cookingconversions.asp), 50g honey is about 2 tbs plus 1 tsp; as for the egg and milk mixture, it should add up to about 200ml.Yes, you can certainly knead the dough by hand (usually about 30mins of kneading). Hope this helps :)

Hi Happy Homebaker!i recently tried this recipe and it was wonderful! i had tried making cha siu baos before, but the bread was never like the ones in the bakery shops. this recipe was so easy to follow because of your clear instructions. i don't remember how i happened to find your blog, but i am so grateful i did. i look forward to trying more of your recipes! i was wondering if you had any recipes for bun fillings like the one in gai mei baos or cha siu baos. thanks!sue

hi happy homebaker! i had made these buns yesterday and they were really soft and light. but today, i tried to eat one and the bread had become much harder. is that normal? do you know what might be the problem? thanks!sue

Hi Sue, homemade bread will tend to 'age' faster as there is no preservatives added compared to store-bought ones; although some recipes will yield bread that will stay soft up to 2 days (especially loaf breads). To prevent the bread from hardening, you can store them in air-tight containers. You can also warm the buns (wrap in foil) in the oven before serving, it will taste like freshly baked.

Yes, homemade bread will give a slight chew to it as it doesn't contain any preservatives or bread improver to keep the bread soft for days. Homemade bread will taste only good on the day it is made. It 'ages' very fast.

I tried your honey bun recipe. It's great! On the first day, it was rather chewy, unlike the other bread that I have made. Was suspecting that my dough might have "eaten" up too much of the flour when dusting the table! Then I kept it in air tight container, on the third day, I toasted it, spread it with butter and jam and wow! it tasted so much better than on the first day. I am puzzled! LOL.. Nevertheless, this is a good recipe that I'll definitely do it again! Tks for sharing and helping us troubleshoot our problems:)

I recently tried your honey bun recipe. The buns looked great and I was happy to see them rise to the shape you had in your pictures. However, when I tore them open, the very middle part was still raw and doughy. Do you know if that may be because my oven is not hot enough? If that's the case, should I use a higher temperature than 200degC or let them bake for a longer time?

Pandora, sounds like your bread was under baked. As every oven behaves different, I am not able to tell whether it was due to too low a temperature or too hot an oven. Usually, if the temperature is too low, when the baking time is up, the top would probably be still pale and not browned, was that the case? If the oven is too hot, the crust will be browned and the inside uncooked.

Hi Pandora, what is the size of your portable oven? I am using a tabletop oven which is 20L, considered small too. As every oven behaves differently, you will have to experiment a few times to get a feel how your oven works. I can't really tell the baking temp and time...but maybe for a start you can try baking at 180degC.

Thanks for responding to my questions so quickly! My oven has around 16"x12"x12" of baking space. I'm not sure if that is around the same size as yours? But I'll take your recommendation and try baking at 180degC first. Thanks for your help and wonderful recipe!

Hi HHB,Thanks for always posting such awesome recipes :) I wanted to ask, what is the difference between the sweet buns and the honey buns. I know the ingredients are different, but I would like to know how the texture differ from each other and which one keeps better overnight/a few days.Is one more fluffy and softer then the other? Also, if I were to put filling (like red bean) do you think it's better to use the sweet bun or honey bun as a base?Thank you so much!!

Hello Happy Homebaker,Your honey bun recipe sounds like just what I was looking for to make and keep warm for my youth group for when they go tubing on the ski hill here in Canada. I have some lovely coconut honey which tastes SO good and I wanted to use that. My problem is that I've never cooked by weight and don't have the proper measuring items to do that. Would you be able to tell me in cups the amounts for this recipe? I would be so thankful! Arlette in very cold Ontario Canada

Hi Anonymous, I am not able to tell the exact difference between the two without tasting them side by side. Both are equally soft. But, I would think the sweet bun will be softer because of the mixture of cake flour and bread flour. Both are good for making red bean buns. Store bread buns in air tight containers, it helps to keep them stay soft. But do note that all homemade buns are not as soft compared to store bought ones since no addictive are used.

Hi Arlette, it is better to use a weighting scale to weight the ingredients for this recipe. However, you can try look for the equivalent using this link:(http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cooking-conversions/cooking-conversions-calculator.aspx)Hope this helps.

i made your honey bun and it turns our fantastic! This was the very first time i made bread! i was pretty scared at first cause idk how bread will be like overkneading or underkneading. I kneaded by hand for about 45mins to 1hr maybe due to inexperience. but this bun is fantastically delicious!Thank you for your awesome recipe!

Hi Genevieve, I am glad to hear that your bread buns turn out very well :) If you are kneading by hand, it is quite impossible to over knead it. The dough should be smooth and will no longer stick to your hands. To test whether you have kneaded the dough to the right stage, you can do a window pane test...take a piece of dough and try to stretch it as thinly as possible, it should not tear away easily and should be stretched to a thin membrane. You may take a look at this video clip here to get an idea how to do the window pane test (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2cKGxn4_Bs) Hope this helps :)

Was reading through your bread making recipes and realised that you use a fair bit of (runny) honey... Which brand do you use exactly, if you can share? Can manuka honey be used?... Or too good to be 'wasted' in bread making...?

Can we substitute it with sugar instead? In what proportion would you recommend? Coz I have a child younger than 1 and as you must already know, honey is not recommended for this age group...